Illusion of Years
by Kessapearl
Summary: What if Mai wasn't completely human... or human at all? What if she wasn't even supposed to live on earth? Escaping the fate that she detested, she was allowed 18 years as a human. Now that 16 years have passed, her nerves started to get to her. And to top things off, a man keeps showing up during the middle of investigations, begging her to return.
1. Prologue

**Disclamer: I don't own Ghost hunt or any songs used in this fanfiction. Only certain characters belong to me, along with some plot twists. If I did, I would be rich and famous, and everyone would know my name. BTW Krillo the Singing Mushroom, if you tell anyone my true name, I will send an angry Danielle the Devil Dragon at you.**

_Italics= song or thoughts_

**_Bold &amp; Italics= Dreams/ flashback_**

A melody drifted across the world, the words lost in time. It was a melody that came often, but knowone knew that. The inhabitents of the human relm all stoped to listen to the sound. It was light and meloncholy but hopeful. It started with one. One girl rocking back on her heels, and leting words pour out. Then every human sang.

_Look into the sky_  
_Can you see the moon across the ocean_  
_Coming close to me_  
_I can hear the melody_

_Cry into the void_  
_Let my voice become the hand that reaches_  
_Out to you and leads_  
_To my long lost memory_

_Carry me home_  
_I lost my way on roads ever weaving_  
_Home_  
_Where darkness fades and hearts are ever believing_  
_Carry me home_  
_I close my eyes and cling to you ever dreaming_  
_Find me_  
_Oh don't forget the child for whom you are grieving_

_Voice that calls from there_  
_And the footsteps of its fallen angels_  
_Now becomes the beat_  
_Of my heart so incomplete_

As if it was timed, everone stopped, the girl who started it was gone, but none noticed. They seemed to forget all about the song that was sung only seconds before.

High above the human relm, a palace of light was in turmoil. The sobs of a young girl were heard by every god, angel, and demon. the sound was unfamiliar to most, but all knew the origin. "Poor girl" they all murmmered, feeling bad. But then it stopped.

**Mei's POV**

_Why! why would he do t? I hate him! He's ruining my life!_ Those thought repeated over and over in her head. Her crying had gotten considerably louder, practicly painting a target above her location. With a wisper of the wind, her head snapped up to see who had entered. "Mummy? What are you doing here? Papa will we displeased" The girl adressed the woman who was creeping closer to her.

"Hush, Mei. I have visited the Oracle and begged for her help. She gave me answers."

"What do you mean?" Mei wiped her tears.

"If you can find a human who loves you within eighteen years, you will be free from your fate." Mei's mother wispherd softly.

"Thak you Mum. I must do this. I can't live like this." Her lips were quivering. She kissed her mother's cheek, spread open her wings and dissapered into the human relm.

**Please R&amp;R! **


	2. Chapter 1

First things first, I AM SOOO SORRY. I just realized that I accidentally published chapter 3 as chapter 2, and never published chapter 2. I am sooooo sorry! You have waited to long for this chapter, especially because the story makes no sense with out it! I AM SO SORRY!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIXTEEN YEARS LATTER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mai's POV

The blaring alarm clock woke me up. "Ugh. It's already time for school. I hate school" I muttered to myself while getting dressed, making sure that my wings were hidden. I really didn't want to repeat that incident.

I opened my apartment door, while trying my hardest to forget the dream I had last night. I knew the dream by heart, as anyone who had the same dream every year on the exact same day. It got annoying after the first nine times. That was seven years ago. To the day.

Shouts of happy birthday came from all the girls. If only they knew the truth... that thought left my mind as soon as it entered. Nobody will ever know that secret. After all, some secrets were meant to stay secrets. She shuttered as she heard a taunting voice say the words she dreaded. "Two more years, little princess."

~~~~TIME BREAK~~~~

"Taniyama Mai-san Please report to the front office. Taniyama Mai-san, You are needed in the front office." the speakers in the room sounded.

"What's the matter Mai-kun? Going to the Principle's office again?" A boy in her class taunted.

"You might want to shut up unless you want to be the next with a concussion." Michiru yelled at the boy.

That shut the boy up as his eyes grew wide in fright. Another boy yelled "Like she would have the guts to do that again. We all know what happened last time." Mai just rolled her eyes, stood up and walked to the office.

"Ah, Taniyama-san, there you are. I was beginning to worry" Paepke-sensei called out.

"Hello ma'am, what did you need me for?" Mai asked quickly, trying to cut the visit short.

The office lady huffed in annoyance. "How many times have I told you not to call me ma'am? It makes me sound older than I am. Anyways, a strange man stopped by earlier today and left this letter for you, and we thought it best that you read it here, just in case."

"Thank you for your concern Paepke-sensei. May I see the letter?" Mai asked sweetly, suspicions forming in her mind as she was handed the letter. The envelope was much bigger than needed, a feature of their notes. Just as she expected it only had one line

**_Two years left, little princess._**

"As if I had the intention of ever forgetting. They're going to unnecessary lengths." Mai muttered under her breath. "Sorry to be such a bother to you Sensei. May I return to class?"

"Yes Taniyama-san." the secretary replied, and with a quick bow, Mai was out the door.

Paepke-sensei's pov

What had Taniyama-san meant when she said that she had almost forgotten? It seemed to distress her greatly._ Maybe I'm just imagining things, Taniyama-san_ _is never distressed._ Her thoughts wandered back to the mysterious man from this morning, his instructions lingering in her thoughts. It's an extremely private message, please show it to none but Mai Taniyama. She'll know who sent it. She shook that memory from her thoughts as she heard a door opening. She glanced up to hear the voice of a teenage boy.

"Don't worry. We'll solve this." The black haired man assured the man walking out of the office with him.

"Are you absolutely positive you can do the job correctly?" The principal's sharp voice rang out.

"Yes." was the immediate response. The older man nodded but said nothing.

What an odd pair. I have a bad feeling about them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A couple hours later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mai's Pov

"The officer asked the woman to go back into the stall and see if she could hear the voice again. Doing as the officer told her she entered the stall. As soon as she closed the stall door she heard a voice. Do you want me to give you a pretty red coat? The voice asked, and when she nodded yes," Mai's voice got really creepy sounding, "the police officer heard a blood curdling scream. When he broke down the door he saw the woman on the floor, stabbed in the stomach, blood covering her like a pretty red coat." She finished the story with a creepy laugh, watching the other girl's eyes go wide and stiff. They grabbed at each other in terror, and when they felt someone touching them, they screamed out.

"MAI! How many times do we have to tell you, don't use that creepy voice!"

"Fine." She pouted looking at them sadly. "I'll just turn my light off then." She clicked a button and the room went completely dark.

"One" Michiru's voice whispered

"Two"Kayamei said softly.

"Three" Keiko whimpered.

It was Mai's turn "Four."

"Five."

I know that in the anime Mai is number three, but in the manga, naru is five, so I might have invented a new character. One of the names is wrong, simply because I couldn't remember it. Sorry...


	3. Chapter 2

I'm sorry this took so long... My WiFi has been acting strange lately... and I'm extreamly lazy.

PS sorry about any mistakes. I wrote this on an ipod with a dead backlight.

"Kyaaa! The ghost is here to kill us!" Mechiru and Keiko screamed and grabbed onto Mai's arm. Mai just stares at the tall raven haired man who had just stepped into the recording room.

"Please tell us that was you!" Keiko pleaded the strange teenager.

"Sorry, I didn't think anyone would be in here, so when I herd voices, I came to check things out." he smiled but anyone who looked close enough, they would see how fake it was.

"It's fine" Michiru squealed. All three of the other girls left their places on the floor and ran over to the boy.

"What year are you? What's your name?" Keiko questioned, starring at the handsome man in front of them.

"My name is Kazuya Shibuya, and I am 17 years old."

That's odd. People usually just say they're a senior. There's something strange about this guy.

The air turned cold around Mai. It was so cold that you could see Mai's breath. Everyone turned to see what was going on.

"Mai!" the girls cried out. Kazuya starred at Mai.

"Two more years little princess, be careful." a man's voice echoed of the walls and the temperature returned to normal and Mai shakely got up.

"Those idiots it's as if they wanted an audience, they are in soooo much trouble," Mai muttered to herself.

"What do you mean by that miss..." he trailed off.

"Taniyama. And I don't see how it's any of your concern. What are you even doing here Shibya-San?" she quickly retorted, getting a normal-ish look on her face.

"I'm here on business." was his quick response, he didn't take his eyes off of Mai's face, as of he was waiting for her to start swooning and acting like her friends. She got up and simply looked at the door.

"Do you need any help?" Michiru asked.

He turned to look at her, causeing her to blush furiously. "No, I'll be fine. though I would like to join you in telling ghost stories, if that's okay with you?"

"Of course Shibya-sempai." the girls squealled.

sorry it's short, but I have to go. Bye!


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, Naru would be slightly nicer to others. Except Masako, he would act the same to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Recap~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do you need any help?" Michiru asked.

He turned to look at her, causing her to blush furiously. "No, I'll be fine. though I would like to join you in telling ghost stories, if that's okay with you?"

"Of course Shibya-sempai." the girls squealed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MAI'S POV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When?" He asked, flashing another fake smile.

"How about tomorrow after school?" Michiru suggested. She smiled her trademarked flirting smile at him.

Mai rolled her eyes at her friend's antics when she began to feel dizzy. She placed her hands on a desk and began breathing deeply. She could feel her friends shooting her woried glances. She stood up and gave them a look that said that she was fine. After they knew that she was alright they turned back to Shibya-sempai.  
"That sound good to me, but where?" He responded whilst giving Mai a fake look of concern.  
"Right here." Keiko responded without a second thought of the daggers Mai was glaring at her.  
"Okay." he replied in a business like tone, as if this was just another thing to check of a list.  
_There's something fishy about this guy. I haven't had this kind of warning in a long time. I'd better get to the bottom of this... quick.  
_

Friday, Early Morning.

"I love this weather, I'm glad I left early. I have the cherry blossoms to myself." Mai's cheerful tones pierced through the air, leaving no hints of the awful dream she had the night before last. She turned the corner, right next to an old decrepit building. It wasn't just any so-old-it's-literally-falling-apart building, It was the old school house. The same school house from Michi-Chan's story.

_The more I look at the place, the more I feel like I could believe Michiru's story from yesterday. It's sorta creepy. Maybe even as creepy as... No, nothing's as creepy as that place, but this place is at least number three in my book. That probably why everyone fears it. Seems legit._

** *FLASHBACK ***

"Okay," Michiru began, "my story is about the old school house." Almost everyone gasped, everyone except Mai.

" The old school house?" she asked, not sure what they were talking about. They all looked at each other then some one answered her question.

"That's right, you don't know yet. We keep forgetting that you just moved back. The old school house is that creepy old building on the corner, the one we're not allowed to go in because its falling apart." Kaya-Chan explained.

"Only its not actually falling apart." Keiko cut in. When she was sure that she had gotten everyone's attention. "The old principle from a few years back tried to demolish it to make way from a new gym. But, every time they try to tear the place down, there's some kind of accident. Also, when It was still in use, a teacher commit suicide in the building. A couple years back, three students got severely injured when a truck driver lost control of his truck. In more recent events, my senpai said that when she was passing by the building on her way home, she saw something reflecting in the window. When she turned to look, she saw a person standing in the window, with blood red eyes, staring straight at her."

"Creepy." they all shuddered in unison.

****BACK TO THE PRESENT****

Mai looked again at the building, half expecting to see the figure in the window. She relaxed when she both saw and felt nothing. Continuing on her way, she glanced up once more, out of instinct. This time there was something unusual about the place. There was something in the doorway. "What is that?" she asked herself. Nearing closer she realised that it was simply a camera._ But who in their right mind would leave something so expensive just lying around in an obviously structurally unsound building? Maybe they were trying to... Please tell me its not HIM again._

She started walking towards the building in hopes of either warning the owner or catching the culprit. After all it's just common courtesy to tell them that the old shoe lockers were probably going to fall on their expensive equipment. As she drew closer, a deep, unfamiliar voice -male, she assumed- shouted out, "Stop! Go away! don't come any closer!"

She stopped dead in her tracks, {AN: Sorry, Bad pun.} and searched for the source of the noise. As she searched, the peaceful feelings that had been with her previously turned into hate. The utter loathing in the air made her stomach turn. She then found the source. a tall dark haired man stood a few meters away from the camera. The hate rolled off him in waves, so thick that you could probably cut it with a knife. Not a dull knife mind you, a sharp Cutco knife. Any duller of a knife would probably just bounce of it. I don't think I've ever wanted to disappear this much.

"Stay there." The man glared. Her eyes widened in fear, but not in fear for herself. She feared for the hateful man,she feared that the shaking shoe lockers would fall before he moved.

"MOVE!" She shouted, worried that he would ignore her attempts to save him. He looked around himself, hearing the fear in the young girl's voice. Unfortunately his eyes skimmed past the quivering shelves.

Mai ran the remaining distance between her and the tall man, muttering unintelligible words. With an awe inspiring leap, she pushed the large man out of the way... well mostly out of the way. "Crap. I didn't move fast enough." she murmured, just barely loud enough for the man to hear as she climbed off the floor. His ankle was, unfortunately stuck under the nearest locker, and those things were way heavy.

The man stared at her in complete and utter shock as she dusted herself off and said, loud enough for him to hear, "I told you to move, you should have moved. Do you want me to call a doctor?" As soon as she asked the last part, she heard footsteps. It's time to finish this. Shibuya-san walked in and saw the damage.

"Lin, what happened?" he asked the silent, uncomplaining and bewildered man. Before 'Lin' could answer, Mai butt in.

"I saw the camera as I was walking to school, and I wanted to know if those idiotic boys were trying to get a video of the girls as they walked to school... again, so I came to investigate. When I got closer to the building, the shoe lockers began to shake, he pushed me out of the way. I feel completely responsible, and if you want I can call a doctor to check his ankle." If Mai were anyone else, it would be obvious that she was lying through her teeth, but Shibuya-san wasn't there, and Lin-san, well, he would think that she was telling the truth. Of course there was always a slight chance that the memory charm wouldn't work.

Lin-san looked at her in suspicion, then confusion, then all at once his face went blank and his eyes held something almost as frightening as the fires at Old Nick's house. "I told you to leave. This wouldn't have happened if you had listened." he growled, unknowingly repeating almost the same words she had muttered to him seconds ago.

_It worked_. She mentally sighed in relief. She rummaged through her backpack, searching for an unneeded piece of paper, lowering her head to make the men think that she was ashamed. She was so focused in her task that she didn't hear the bell going off in the background. Finally finding what she was looking for, she wrote down the phone number, address, and name of the nearest hospital. She glanced up at Shibuya-san as he asked her a simple question, but with an annoyingly amused undertone.

"What's your name?" he asked, smirking, his eyes full of unexpressed emotions.

"Mai." was her quick reply, still somewhat astounded by the lack of emotion in his soul. "What's it to you?"

"Well Mai, the bell just rang, you're late." his eyes held something similar to laughter, but it never surfaced.

"CRAP!" Mai exclaimed loudly as she handed him the paper, grabbed her school bag and ran to the school.

**Thank you Purple Firebird for letting me know that there was something wrong with the chapter, I probably wouldn't know that it had done that...  
**

**3/Kessa**


	5. Apology

Gomenasai mina-San! I haven't updated in a long time, and I really am sorry about that. I had the next few chapters of all my stories typed, but my stupid piece of crap laptop deleted the file that they were in. On the upside, it's possible that I'll be able to update more often. My brother's girlfriend's grandmother got another Ipad for Christmas but, like the current Ipad I'm typing on, she has no use for it and is probably going to give it to my brother, and he promised if that happens, I'll get this iPad. I'm crossing my fingers that it will happen, because the only electronic device that I own is extremely broken. The fudgeing backlight doesn't even work! Anyways sorry bout the wait. I'll post as soon as I retype it.

Love y'all's, and happy (late) holidays! -Kessapearl


	6. Chapter 4 part one

**Kessa: Otay, I know that this is extremely late, but I swear I actually have a reason this took so long. Firstly, as those of you who read the previous A/N the computer I had been using to update and write on has been really screwy lately.**

**Naru: Excuses.**

**Kessa: (Ignoring Naru) It started deleting files and making my life miserable. Secondly, my schedule has been very stressful as of late. But, against all odds, I have managed to find a time to rewrite this chapter. Please R&amp;R.**

**Mai: Kessapearl doesn't own Ghost Hunt; all rights go to the creators.**

**Kessa: I wish I owned it. Unfortunately, this poor high school student can only write fanfic.**

**Naru: Luckily for us…**

**Kessa: NARU! BE NICE!**

**Naru: Why should I?**

**Kessa: (glaring at Naru) I control the story; I can make you do anything I want. I might even have Masako kiss you…**

**Naru: (Shocked expression) You wouldn't!**

**Mai: (Rolls eyes at the argument.) Whilst these two idiots argue, let's get the next chapter started. (Dodges flying chair)**

**-After School-**

Mai got up, grabbing her stuff quickly, shoving her stuff into her backpack, she was about to leave when Kayamei, Keiko, and Michiru blocked her escape route.

"Mai-Chan, where are you going? Are you ditching us?" Keiko whined.

"Mai-Chi, I won't let you leave yet. We have a-once-in-a-lifetime chance to tell ghost stories with an extremely hot, sorry, I mean aesthetically pleasing upperclassman! You seriously can't be planning to ditch us are you?" Michiru began her rant, but Mai was used to it and knew the proper way to get out of this type of situation.

"I really wish I could stay, but I am not feeling very well, and Kenji has me working a double shift tomorrow. I'm so sorry!" She molded her expression to that of deep sorrow, and was about to continue to apologizing when she was (rudely) interrupted by the class rep.

"Ghost Stories?" The Class rep –Kourada- asked, rage burning in her eyes. "No wonder I have such a bad headache."

"They're just stories!" Kayamei glared at Kourada, after all, this hadn't been the first time this had happened, but unfortunately this time they couldn't walk away. They were supposed to wait for Shibiya-san.

"Those _stories_ of yours attract low level spirits…" at this point, Mai had already begun to tune out the ranting of the uneducated 'medium'.

Mai had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the seriously flawed reasoning of the class rep. Sure the girl had potential, but at that point, that's all it was, potential. Mai's eyes began to wander around the room. Something about it had seemed off. As her eyes moved to the doors, she found what she was looking for. Shibuya Kazuya. The man was leaning on the wall, listening to what the class rep had to say, and smirking.

Mai cleared her throat, quickly getting the attention of everyone in the room. "Is there something I can do for you Shibuya-san?" To this, he smiled his painfully fake smile and looked to the girls.

"Am I interrupting something?" He smiled again and Keiko and Kayamei melted. Before Mai could say "Yes, yes you are." Michiru had already answered.

"Shibuya-sempai! I'm sorry, but I feel kind of sick. I'll have to take a rain check on the stories today." The other two nodded in agreement. Mai could tell that Kourada had said something to shake them. They glanced at the class rep and moved closer to Mai. "Mai-chan lets head out. You probably have a crap ton of homework to do."

Mai glared at them. "That happened one time! It's not going to happen again. Honestly!" Her mind went back to the fateful day that she worked three shifts at the tea shop and forgot about her pile of homework for the day. Luckily that day had most of the classes that she passed easily. Biology was the only acceptance to that. She hated all science classes because they were full of speculations and tried to classify things that should be left alone.

Mai was pulled off her train of thought to hear their dear, dear class rep yelling at the fake upperclassman. She wasn't quite sure what she missed, but it seems like it was somewhat important.

**Kessa: AND CUT! Sorry that this chappie is short, but a few have begun to protest at my laziness, so here is a small section of all the glory that is to come. Just so you now, I now have a different laptop so I can update more regularly, but me being me, it might still take a while. For those of you who are also reading Eye of Ka, that one might take a little longer to get up because I have to completely rewrite the chapter, which will take a while to drag out of my memories. **

**Naru: MPPMPH!**

**Kessa: What was that Baka? Do you want me to untie you?**

**Naru: (Nods head furiously)**

**Kessa: I'll let you stay here for the next little while. Who knows, it could fix your behavior. **

**Mai: Bye!**


	7. Reread the story, It has changed

Okay, I promise that you will soon get the next chapter, but recently realized that I never published the actual first chapter, so I to post it and rearrange all the other chapters, so Im sorry for all the story alerts. Also, if you have already read this, go back and reread it, it will make more sense this time. I love you all and I promise that Im not abandoning this story, I just have a lot going on right now.

I love you all dearly.

Love,

Kessa

PS, This story is part of a public fanfic contest on Inkitt. I don't want to ask to much of you all, but if you want to, please vote for it. Its under the same title, and my pen name is the same. I will put a link to it on my Profile.


	8. Please read

So, if you want to blame anyone for my length of hiatus between updates, blame Rick K'Tish. I've made a deal with her that I won't update any of my stuff until she updates her story Sexy Squad Seven. If you're a Naruto fan, I encourage you to go read it.

She has promised to update as soon as she gets 10 follows/favorites on the story she'll update.


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